No Rest At All
by Helo34
Summary: A medical Ensign picks an eventful night to fall asleep on call. Rated T for mild injuries and junior officers out of uniform. A Canton adventure set in the Star Trek Online universe.


Ensign Maria Nguyen

USS Canton

0125 hours

Maria was woken up by the insistent chirping of her com badge on the table next to her bed. Still half asleep she rolled over and bumped it, almost sending it flying off the nightstand. "Doctor Nuwin? There's been an accident, we need you in sickbay."

Maria groaned. "Why can't people hurt themselves at a more reasonable hour?" she mumbled to herself.

"Doctor?" the communicator spoke again. She sat upright, wide awake now that the call, and her response, had registered.

"Nothing, I'm on my way." She rolled out of bed and started towards the door, then stopped abruptly when she realized that she was out of uniform. She grabbed her uniform shirt and put it on, then started searching for her pants. When she couldn't find them she flipped on the lights in her quarters. Still unable to locate them she grabbed her lucky gray skirt and some matching knee high boots.

She had worn a skirt all through the Academy and now found it comforting. When the new uniforms came down she had replicated a skirt in Medical gray even though it wasn't part of the uniform code. Tucking her shirt into the skirt, she hurriedly tied back her hair and sighed at the thought of being written up anyways for being out of uniform. Now dressed she ran down the hall to sickbay. The duty doctor frowned at Maria and waved her over to where he was working.

"Dr. Zamora was working in his lab when something exploded. He has 2nd degree burns on 30% of his body. Get his shoes off and start cutting his pants." The duty doctor briefed Maria as he handed her some shears. During the middle of the night there was one doctor on duty and one on call. It's just my luck there's an accident the one night I fall asleep on call she mused. The duty doctor shined a light into Dr. Zamora's eye and started asking him questions about the accident. "Dr. Zamora? What exploded?" Zamora tried to squint at the bright light in his eye and mumbled something about a laser and a gravity well. "Why were you there in the middle of the night?" Zamora mumbled about not being able to sleep. The duty doctor gave Zamora a weak sedative hypospray to put Zamora asleep without stopping his breathing, then started ripping Zamora's shirt around the burns. Most of the burns were around his head and upper chest, but something had dripped onto his shins and feet, causing burns there as well. Maria finished cutting off his pants and didn't say anything, still thinking about the comment she had made earlier.

She walked over to a nearby tray, grabbing a protoplaser and sterilizer. The sterilizer was a small hand held unit that emitted a radiation field similar to the Sterile Field used on surgical beds to sterilize a physician's hands during procedures. Turning the sterilizer on caused it to emit a high pitched humming noise. She held it just above the burns and slowly moved it around, sterilizing each damaged area. When she finished she switched it off and handed the device to the duty doctor, then began regenerating damaged tissue with the protoplaser. It took several hours to seal up the burns and get Zamora's pain levels under control. When the day shift staff came in Maria gave them a tired smile and handed over the protoplaser as the duty doctor explained what had happened. When he finished Maria shuffled out of the med bay, down the hall, and entered her quarters. She fell onto her bed and immediately passed out.

Later that day she discovered a summons on her PADD. Having just woken up, she was still groggy and wishing for a cup of coffee as she read her messages. A priority message had come from her department head to report straight to her office as soon as she woke up. She quickly made her hair more presentable and rushed off to see Lieutenant Seret, still in the clothes she wore last night. Once there she rang the bell and waited for the door to open. A few stressful minutes later the door opened and the Lieutenant gestured for Maria to stand in front of her desk.

"Doctor Jameson tells me you were out of uniform while on call last night. Why?" she asked. Lieutenant T'Los Seret was the dour Vulcan in charge of the combined Science and Medical department aboard the USS Canton. Maria had only seen T'Los once before when she was first assigned to the ship. Really nervous now, Maria cleared her throat and attempted to explain.

"I must have put my pants into the cleaner and fallen asleep Sir. I..."

"Ma'am." T'Los interrupted. Maria looked at the Lieutenant, confused by the interruption. Meanwhile T'Los continued talking. "I am female, therefore it is illogical to call me sir." In her nervousness Maria started speaking faster.

"SorrySi... ImeanMa'am." Now well used to the antics of junior officers, T'Los just smiled and held up her hand to stop Maria from continuing.

"Doctor Jameson also mentioned that you did a good job of treating Dr. Zamora. And that you remembered to disinfect his burns before regenerating the skin". Maria started to open her mouth, then nodded and closed it again. "In light of the circumstances I will forgive your interesting wardrobe choice, though I do have one question. Why the skirt?"

Maria took a deep breath to calm herself and decided to start at the beginning. "When I was in the Academy I got used to wearing one and started to think of it as my lucky skirt. I replicated a new one when I was issued a set of Medical grays. It was the first thing I saw in my hurry to get dressed last night." The Vulcan just shook her head. Though she did not fully understand Maria's reasoning she respected her preference.

"If Doctor Jameson approves I will allow you to wear it on duty. However, it cannot replace your real uniform. I expect you to wear the full uniform any time we have guests onboard, are scheduled for an inspection, or are in dock. If it causes any issues I will change my mind." Maria nodded and waited for permission to leave. "You can be dismissed if you promise me that you will not fall asleep on call again."

"I promise." Maria replied. T'Los nodded and waved Maria to the door. Maria made a quick escape and hurried back to her quarters to change clothes before her next shift.


End file.
